Monday, September 15, 2008

K. N. Panikkar

Dr. K.N. Panikkar (born 1936), is an Indian marxist historian . He was appointed Vice Chancellor of Sree Sankaracharya Sanskrit University, Kalady, Kerala, India for a brief period.

Influenced by Marxism, his methods and his expressed positions in public life have evoked harsh criticism from right-wing intelligentia and political parties. Panikkar has been active in criticising the rise of communalist history in India. His books include 'Against Lord and State: Religion and Peasant Uprisings in Malabar'; 'Culture and Consciousness in Modern India'; 'Culture, Ideology and Hegemony – Intellectuals and Social Consciousness in Colonial India' and 'Before the Night Falls'. He has also edited a number of books including 'A Concerned Indian’s Guide to Communalism' and the ICHR volume on 'Towards Freedom, 1940, A Documentary History of the Freedom Struggle' (suppressed and withdrawn from press by the former BJP-led regime, now forthcoming). He is currently engaged in preparing a monograph on the intellectual history of colonial India for which he has been awarded Homi Bhabha Senior Fellowship. He was awarded Padma Bhushan in 2007